


Their Legacy

by the_pen_of_gabriel



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 03:08:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9157564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_pen_of_gabriel/pseuds/the_pen_of_gabriel
Summary: Pulled awake by the voice of someone long dead, Rey bumps into General Organa and is told the story of a battle that changed the course of the entire galaxy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I love Rogue One, and felt I needed to know what would happen if Rey learned about their fight. Who else to tell her about it than the one who protected that legacy in the first place? My own way of paying tribute to Carrie Fisher, a woman who changed the course of our galaxy.

It was late at night, where no one but scheduled patrols were awake. Ignoring the cold, empty flow of winter air, a young Jedi padawan wrapped her blanket against her like a cocoon. She dreamed of an endlessly green planet, full of life, water, and hope. In her dream, she watched avians of all shapes and breeds fly around, passed creatures of innumerable kinds scutter around the forest floor. Most importantly, she was there with her best friends. One named the nameless creatures one by one, excitement flooding his voice. The other led them off to an adventure in a nearby lake. They were happy. They were having fun. And they were safe. The peaceful dream abruptly ended with a loud voice erupting in her ear.

“All is as the Force wills it.”

She had never heard this voice before. It wasn’t near her, she knew that. Someone was using the Force to communicate with her. For a moment, she panicked, suspecting the First Order was behind the attempt. She grabbed her staff from under her cot and held it close, ready for an attack. She sat there, watching, waiting. Nothing happened. The voice refused to say any more. She chalked it up to her imagination and, after waiting for what felt like an hour to make sure she was alone, slowly drifted back to sleep.

This time her dream was different. She dreamed of an island, one she had never been to. It reminded her of her home, if her home had even the slightest bit of water on its desert plains. Around her everything was silent. There were no happy, smiling faces of her friends. There was only an unspoken tension in the air. The slightest feeling that something was about to happen. She turned to see a stormtrooper by her side, and before either of them could react to each other, something between them exploded.

She woke up panting, the exhilaration of being so near the blasts shaking her. It felt so real. Why would she dream about a stormtrooper? Her mind flashed to someone she knew. Did it have to do with him? She had never seen a planet like that one. It confused her to no end why she would dream about one now. 

“Trust in the Force.”

The voice was back. She wanted to be on edge, but something in the man’s voice comforted her. Maybe it was the way he said “Force”, as if it was all that mattered. He felt too confident to be menacing. Too friendly. 

“I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.”

She accepted the words as peaceful, not threatening. But they were quiet. The phrase was repeated at a barely audible whisper. She rose from her bed, and it got slightly louder. Taking this as a sign, she ventured out, trying desperately to find anything that would satisfy the broken record in her mind. She found herself in the General’s mission control room, and the voice fell silent. On the screen was a file she had never seen before, about a battle fought long ago. 

“The Battle of Scarif.” Someone else read for her, and she turned around, half wishing she’d brought her staff with her. But she was immediately calmed when she realized who stood beside her.

“General Organa. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No, Rey. Something else did.”

The padawan frowned, wondering if it had been the same reason she had woken up. There was no natural light to be found, leading her to believe it was the middle of the night. Why were the only two people awake the highest ranking Alliance official, and herself?

“Why were you looking this battle up?”

“I didn’t, General. It was here when I found it.”

“So you know what happened then?”

She shook her head. She didn’t know anything about Alliance history, having been raised on an empty, removed desert. What connected this battle to the voice in her head?

“Would you like me to tell you about it?”

“Yes, General.”

And so the older woman began, “Back before my brother and I helped destroy the Death Star, more him than me as he likes to boast, the Alliance had no idea there was even a weapon with the ability to destroy planets. It seems foolish now, to remember the Counsel’s ignorance. I mean, imagine me denying the existence of the Starkiller Base?” Rey couldn’t, didn’t want to, imagine her doing so. “It would be ridiculous. But hey, there we were. My father, Bail Organa-” Rey noticed a heavy burst of pride in the woman’s voice, and sensed she loved her father very much, “-was part of that Counsel. They sent one of their most trusted Intelligence captains to confirm the rumors of the Death Star.”

They sat there for hours, Rey listening with a bright intensity as General Organa told her the story of two rebellious soldiers and their equally reckless friends. She took a sense of pride in how Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus were described. She imagined their relationship like Finn and Poe’s, despite the General not knowing them personally. Each member of the Rogue One team interested her. In Cassian Andor’s story she saw Poe, a devoted Alliance fighter willing to risk everything for a cause he wholeheartedly believed in. Through understanding Finn’s trials, she took Bodhi Rook’s plight to heart. Finn would be delighted to know he wasn’t the first to defect, and to see that one man’s decisions to do the right thing could end up winning a war. And in Jyn Erso, Rey saw herself. Neither believed in the Alliance completely. They grew up alone, and fighting. But they were well loved in the Alliance, and let their independence strengthen, not define, them. She listened well to General Organa, for she knew that because Jyn Erso had succeeded, she could too. When it came to the end, when the Death Star plans had been sent and Scarif destroyed, Rey felt empty.

“What’s wrong, Rey?”

“None of them survived? The Alliance couldn’t save anyone?”

“They couldn’t have known about the plan to destroy Scarif. After all, it was an Imperial base. No one truly expected it’s destruction. And, Rey, it was a war. They were only a small part of that war.”

“But they did so much! They saved the Rebellion. Without them, we wouldn’t even be here.”

“I suppose that’s true.” The small but powerful woman held Rey in her gaze, obviously both intrigued and amused by the girl’s reaction. She took her hand and smiled, “The Alliance never forgot their sacrifice. Time and time again we’ve sent out squadrons. We’ve had countless Rogue Two’s, Rogue Three’s, and on again. But we’ve never had another Rogue One. That’s the only way we can hope to protect their legacy, aside from completing what they sent out to do.”  
“And the plans? Did they reach Alliance soon enough?”

“Obviously.” Leia laughed, “If they hadn’t, as you said, we wouldn’t be here.”

“But who got them to the Alliance for Master Skywalker to use?”

Leia smiled wide, a spark of remembrance and rebellion in her eyes. She admired the young girl, her fire and curiosity. She thanked the Force spirit who had brought them together on this night. Feeling Rey’s interest burn, the fiery war general simply murmured, “That’s a story for another time.”

Rey, endlessly dissatisfied with her answer, fired off question after question until Leia conceded and began by telling her brother’s padawan, a girl she respected and, she admitted secretly, loved with all her heart, of how, “It was a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships-”

The story carried on into the night, both unaware of the spirits who watched over the young Jedi, silently wishing her well, and insuring each other of her protection. One man turned to his friend, her form forged from stardust, and asked what reason they had to protect this girl in particular. The spirit-woman smiled at her companions, “This girl is destined to protect what we built. She will bring a new age of Jedi, and with it, their faith.The strongest stars have hearts of kyber, you know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, in case some of you noticed, Leia starts off with the yellow text shown at the beginning of Episode 4. Hope you all enjoyed this!


End file.
